Ingvar Kamprad, father of the IKEA flat-pack furniture revolution, dead at 91

Simon Johnson

Stockholm: Billionaire IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, who turned a business he launched as a teenager into one of the world's best known furniture brands, has died at the age of 91, the Swedish company said on Sunday.

IKEA's simple but sturdy designs and self-assembly products are now familiar in homes around the globe, with the retailer aiming to generate €50 billion ($76.5 billion) in annual revenue by 2020.

Born on March 30, 1926, in southern Sweden, Kamprad started off selling matches to neighbours at the age of five and soon diversified his inventory to include seeds, Christmas tree decorations, pencils and ball-point pens.

Despite his wealth, Kamprad prided himself on being frugal, driving an old car and encouraging staff to write on both sides of a sheet of paper to avoid waste.